The class action lawsuit against Ohio’s Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) alleges the over collection of payments was wrongfully taken from more than 114,000 child support payers, the majority of whom are fathers, according to a press release from The American Coalition for Fathers and Children (ACFC).

At issue is the claim that ODJFS “knowingly and willfully deceives parents concerning the status of their child support records” misleading them to believe their child support balance is zero when those parents have actually overpaid and should have an account credit, according to Michael McCormick, executive director of ACFC.

“Ohio regularly incarcerates poor parents who fall behind on their support obligations sentencing them to what are in effect ‘debtor prisons,'” McCormick said in the release. “Now it’s alleged the state has, for years, been pilfering from parents who have fully paid their obligations.”

MensRights.com has written before on the constitutionality of jailing fathers who do not have the ability to pay child support.

“Incarcerating indigent parents unable to pay support is bad enough; for states to knowingly and unlawfully take excess money is unconscionable,” according to the ACFC statement.

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